John Wesley James, Caldwell Parish, Lousisiana b. 1878
Submitter: Greggory E. Davies
120 Ted Price Lane
Winnfield, LA 71483
gedavies@iAmerica.net
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John Wesley James
John Wesley James was born on a plantation near Winnfield, Winn Parish, March
19, 1878, son of Thomas J. James. His father served in a Louisiana regiment
during the Civil War, participating at battles at Yellow Bayou, Mansfield, and
Pleasant Hill. He was the son of Thomas J. James, who brought the family from
Mississippi to Winn Parish when the younger Thomas was a boy. After the war,
the younger Thomas operated a store in Winn Parish, later moving it to
Caldwell Parish. His wife was a Caves, died around 1900 at the age of
fifty-six. He remarried Mrs. Jessie J. Bennett. By his first marriage, he
had nine children, of which John Wesley and C. C. survived past 1925.
John Wesley, in 1925 was in the mercantile business and farmed over 3,000
acres of land. He was educated at the rural schools near his home and at age
twenty-one, he earned $ 12.50 per month working for his father. He bought, on
credit for $ 300, interest free, 128 acres of land and during the first four
years of his initial farming venture opened a store. He organized the Monroe
Dry Goods Company and the King James Hardware and Furniture Company of
Columbia, Caldwell Parish. He later became president of Citizens Progressive
Bank of Columbia. He served for sixteen years on the Caldwell Parish Police
Jury.
In 1905 John married Zarada Blythe, a daughter of E. D. Blythe of Rosefield.
They had Clayton, Clyde, Myra, and John Wesley, Jr. John, Sr., was master of
Columbia Lodge for sixteen years and a member of the Shreveport Scottish Rite
Bodies and El Karubah Shrine.
(Source: Chambers' "History of Louisiana", 1925. Submitted by Greggory Ellis
Davies, Winnfield, Winn Parish, La.)